EDITOR'S NOTE: The "Bo's Prediction" part of the review below was posted on Friday Afternoon (042409). Look for Bo's review of this PPV Event later in the week.

The first PPV after WrestleMania is Backlash, a show that had the main events laid out right away and at the time of this writing doesn’t really have a full card yet. The general rule going into Mania is that feuds are finished there and that became a lot more complicated once the annual draft took place. Moving wrestlers from one roster to another creates the need to come up with new programs and due to the time crunch that didn’t happen. The only program in place that isn’t being dealt with on the card is the very entertaining Evan Bourne/Jason Kidd one on ECW and the powers that be apparently don’t have enough guts to start the show with a match that would be filled with great moves. We sort of had the bulk of the card laid out right after Mania but that left us with a five match card so the Punk/Kane match was added Thursday and the satellite time killer Santina/Khali Kiss segment was added as well. The post-Mania PPV is usually decent and should be interesting to say the least. The matches as of 042409 are:

ECW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Jack Swagger vs. Christian
BO'S PREDICTION:
If anything this match will tell us where Vince’s mind is at when the three count takes place. Swagger was Vince’s fair haired boy but didn’t have a good match the last time the spotlight was shined on him during a match with Finlay. Christian has fans in creative but Vince doesn’t think he is a main event wrestler even though the fans have decided he is (welcome to the world of Matt Hardy). Christian will call the bulk of this match and could redeem Swagger in the eyes of Vince. The program between these two isn’t over so we could see Christian end up with the strap then lose it back at the Tuesday TV tapings. The one great thing about this match will take place at the announce table since Matt Stryker is always entertaining and Josh Matthews seems to be able to keep up with him.

BO'S REVIEW: 
Once again the announce table had JR, Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler so I would guess that the booth will remain as such for future PPV’s. It would have been nice to have Matthews and Stryker call this match but it’s hard to complain when JR is working. This was a pretty good opener because Swagger was allowed to show off his amateur wrestling skills and Christian made everything look smooth. There was a cool spot here that had Swagger pick Christian up and throw him from the ring so that we could see how strong Swagger is. The finish has Swagger undo one set of turnbuckle pads (which was seen by the ref) while Christian did the same on the other side (which the ref didn’t see). Swagger ran head first into the exposed buckle and was hit with the kill switch for the win. So Vince has apparently changed his opinion somewhat on Christian because he is the new ECW champion. It should be noted that Vince cooled on Swagger after a match with Finlay who is one of the best workers in the business while Christian carried Swagger to the best match of his professional career. After the match Christian was congratulated backstage and he stopped to walk over to his ‘brother’ Edge. He asked Edge what happened to him and Edge told him that he hates John Cena and that’s why he isn’t ‘fun’ anymore. This was a great opening segment.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
BO'S PREDICTION:
For a guy that hadn’t been in the ring for 15 years Steamboat didn’t embarrass himself at Mania. He did all his old moves and showed why he was considered one of the best workers of his time. This will be a decent match but not a long one. Since Jericho is now part of the Smackdown roster we could see some outside interference from someone here to cause him to lose and give him an automatic program.

BO'S REVIEW: 
As he did at Mania Steamboat looked very good here even with his dyed hair. The two men traded offense back and forth and Steamboat even skinned the cat again. The highlight of the match was Steamboat getting Jericho up for a superplex since the main reason Steamboat retired was due to his back. Jericho won the match here as was expected but there was no run in to jump him into a new program on Smackdown. Steamboat got a good hand from the crowd after the match. This did go longer than I expected but it was another good match. This was followed with a backstage segment with Santino where he was confronted by Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendez over his ‘twin’ sister Santina. He refused to admit that he was Santina so Beth told him that there would be no kissing from her ever again.

CM Punk vs. Kane
BO'S PREDICTION:
I would guess that this match may add a stipulation that has Punk lose the magic briefcase if Kane beats him since if it doesn’t then what’s the point behind it. I was as shocked as the next guy when Punk won the Money in the Bank match for the second year in a row and wouldn’t be shocked if he lost the case here. It has to be determined whether or not Kane will be a face on Smackdown (fans cheer him anyway) and since that is up in the air this could go either way.

BO'S REVIEW: 
Punk’s briefcase was not on the line here but we did get the reason for this match-Kane didn’t like being eliminated by Punk at Mania. This match was the definition of the word stiff. Punk spent the bulk of it working on Kane’s arm. He even did a cross arm breaker from the top rope that had him holding Kane’s arm as he hung from the outside of the ring. At one point Punk even brought back the anaconda vise. Kane won the match with a choke slam but this program will continue.

I QUIT MATCH:
Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy
BO'S PREDICTION:
There has been a massive amount of speculation this week on whether Jeff Hardy is going to stay in the WWE. His contract ends in July and he hasn’t decided on whether he is going to stay or take a break. One way or the other this match is the end of a feud that has stalled at times and revved up at others. Since Matt won at Mania you would expect Jeff to go over here but then you have to put yourself in the mindset of Vince McMahon. All of the internet speculation this week suggests that Jeff will lose since he may walk away but since Vince hates letting us peons figure out the ends of his matches Jeff may win. Remember, the person behind the attacks on Jeff was supposed to be Christian before the net spilled the beans. Rob Van Dam was booked to lose his last match and since that was what we expected he won his last WWE match instead. The WWE is in a ‘no blood’ mode right now but if there is blood at anytime on this card then this match will have it. I still expect Jeff to win here.

BO'S REVIEW: 
The conclusion of this program was a damn good match that will have Matt on the shelf for a while. The two brothers spent the match beating the hell out of each other and refusing to say they quit. The finish was a unique one since it involved duct tape, a table, rope and a ladder. Jeff has Matt down so he went to get a table. After putting Matt on the table he duct taped Matt’s hands and feet together then lashed him to the table. If that wasn’t enough then he got a ladder and brought it into the ring. While Jeff was standing on the ladder Matt gave this long speech that brought in everything from the fact that brothers shouldn’t fight to dad is sick and he doesn’t want to see them fighting before saying he quit. Jeff was going to leave the ring but the crowd wanted him to jump so he did and smashed his brother thru the table. Since Jeff really landed ass first he accidentally broke either one of Matt’s fingers or his hand so Matt could be out for a while or do the Cowboy Bob Orton deal and work thru it with his hand in a cast. The match was followed with a segment with Legacy in which Randy Orton suggested that Batista was once again following HHH instead of being his own man.

The forward momentum of the card was stopped cold dead by the Khali Kiss Cam segment. As Santina was in the ring she said that she couldn’t kiss Khali because she was in love with someone else-JR (who had no idea that was going to happen but sold his confusion well). Khali’s handler Singh then told Santina that if she was in love with JR then she had to kiss him instead. Phoenix then came out and challenged Santina for her Miss WrestleMania title and then got in Khali’s face for being so dumb he didn’t know that Santina was Santino. He drew back as if he was going to hit her and then pushed her down. Santina then pinned her and was confronted by Khali who pulled ‘her’ top off. This segment did what it was supposed to do-kill time and that’s about it.

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Triple H, Batista & Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton & Legacy
BO'S PREDICTION:
This match has one of the dumbest stipulations I have ever heard of. HHH wins if either Shane or Batista get the pin but if Rhodes or DiBiase win then Orton gets the title. This is kind of like a fatal four way for idiots. The one thing to focus on in this match will be the amount of punishment that Rhodes ends up taking. He has been nailed with a sledgehammer, thrown into a cage, hit with the coast to coast, taken a spear and flattened with a pedigree since this program has begun. It seems as if someone has decided that he isn’t the fragile type so why not hit him with every move we can and see if he can take it. The fans seem to have cooled a bit over HHH since the WWE decided to admit he was married to Stephanie so he could lose here and deprive us of what has been an entertaining series of meltdowns by Orton. If he does lose then he will not be the one pinned since they have already established that Shane and Batista are not on the same page.

BO'S REVIEW: 
The match began with HHH running Orton to the back. Orton returned in time to slam Batista into the ring and the ring post. Shane got tossed over the ring steps and into the stands. Everyone took turns here getting in their offense and getting thrown out of the ring. The no-DQ stipulation came into play when Batista was about to use a chair while he was outside the ring and HHH grabbed it. At the end the only people in the ring were HHH and Orton. Orton actually pinned HHH with the RKO but the ref miscounted and the bell rung. Orton won the match and the title when he kicked HHH in the head and pinned him. I liked the fact that Orton won the belt clean here and the no-DQ stipulation didn’t come into play. The lack of trust angle between Shane and Batista didn’t come up either so someone in the back had the match end the old fashioned way. Since HHH fell due to the head kick he should be off TV for a few weeks or so.

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
John Cena vs. Edge (Last Man Standing Match)
BO'S PREDICTION:
As of this moment Raw has both major championship belts so you know that Edge is going over here but since he and Cena work so well together this should be a good match. This match will be the next to the last one and if anything will confuse the hell out of the crowd because there isn’t much difference between the stipulation for this match and the Hardy match. I do not expect Edge to win clean here so someone has to come out and knock Cena out and put him in a new program. They could go with Big Show and have him and Cena go at it again or maybe someone from the Raw roster can sucker punch him like say William Regal since Regal will need to defend his King of the Ring status soon.

BO'S REVIEW: 
The feud between Cena and Edge was been one of the best ones in a while. The two seem to bring out the best in each other and this match was no exception. They took turns being thrown into the ring steps and at one point Cena picked up the stairs and threw them from the ring into Edge. They punched each other silly. The announce table was taken apart and Cena gave Edge the attitude adjustment into the crowd. Edge went up the stairs and into the crowd, thru the arena and back into the ring by the entrance with Cena right behind him. While the two were at the entrance they took turns getting dropped onto the steel. Edge went to the back and brought back a chair then clocked Cena and gave him a concerto as Cena’s head was on the ramp. Cena got up from that and kept fighting before Big Show came out and threw Cena into a gimmicked klieg light. Cena couldn’t get up from that and so Edge is once again the Heavyweight champ and Smackdown has a champion again. This was an awesome match that you really have to see to believe.

The haphazard nature of this card suggested that it was going to be a disaster but it wasn’t. The kiss cam segment sucked but you sort of expected that. We saw the end of three programs here (Jericho’s legends tour, Matt vs. Jeff and Edge/Cena) and the start of another (Cena/Show). The small number of matches allowed the show to breathe which is something the WWE needs to look at as a standard. At the end of the year this may be looked upon as the best WWE PPV of the year.

Photo © 2009 WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment
Article © 2009 Alternate Reality, Inc.